Joining, sharing, swapping.

Suddenly, I have an overwhelming urge to join in every single project I see people starting on their blogs. I don't know why this is exactly, I'm just being a bit of a joiner right now. Well, I do know a couple of reasons this could stem from. The first is a (somewhat reasonable) fear that once baby #2 arrives I will never be able to make or do anything I want to ever again. Well, that's not really reasonable, but I'm sure creative endeavors will be few and far between for a while. The second is that I have a lonely mom thing going on here lately. I don't think it's any secret that this is a reason for a lot of us being joiners in an online creative community. I'm at home with kids during the day, and then my husband takes our one car to work at night so I'm usually home some more. So what do I have to do after bedtime but sew and then talk to people about it on the internet? (Lord knows I'm not watching The Bachelor.) I'm thankful for that, but I know the pre-kids me would have thought this kind of sad. Maybe it is in a way still, but I don't care. I like you guys and your blogs and I like my blog. So there.



Anyway, at the risk of my blog becoming completely over-saturated with sugary-syrup little girl dresses, I'm really excited about Vanessa's project going on this very week:





She's heading up an effort to send a ton of pillowcase dresses to an organization that gives them to girls around the world who don't have 28 dresses neatly hanging in their closets. This is a good thing. You have til next Wednesday to finish a dress or five, and pillowcase dresses are pretty quick, so join in!





The other project I heard about from Angelina's blog and of course decided to join, in my join-iness. It's called 30 Days of Lists.  Not much to explain there, but I thought it would be fun to get back into regular bite-size writing. I'm not a journal-er, but I love making lists, though I go through phases with it. They give you a different topic each day, and they've been pretty good so far.

I stole a little moleskine from my husband to designate to the task. I won't share all my lists here, because you don't care, but they will mostly be on my flickr. Did you know I had a flickr? Let's be friends there too.

The list topics have been fun so far, but today's is "What's in Your Bag?" This is the first one I think I will need to change. No offense to everyone who blogs about what is in their bag, but those kind of posts generate zero interest in me. We all have basically the same things in there, and besides, I don't even carry a purse any more, just a lovely utilitarian unit they call a diaper bag. It's got diapers and wipes in it- not an exhilarating show and tell. Maybe I'll change today's list to "What's been on your living room floor for 3 days straight?" or maybe, "What simple things are becoming impossible due to your ginormous belly?" Those seem more applicable to me right now.




Since this has seemed to become kind of a rambling post, let me tell you what else I have become addicted too. Swapping. That random old photograph up there came from Janee in a package she sent me full of random things in exchange for a load of wine corks. She asked about my corks, I said let's swap. Ever since Tara's scrap swap, this is my first thought about any of my supplies. Yesterday, someone commented that they liked my yellow nursing cover fabric and I offered to swap them for what I had left of it. There might be something wrong with me... I'm trying to think of a way to turn swapping into a more regular event around here.


Anyway, Tara's mug rugs that she made with my scraps inspired my grandmother in Florida to make some of her own. (I love it that you read my blog Nanny!) She emailed me these pics yesterday. It just goes to show that not only do people's creative blogs inspire other bloggers in our own little pat-each-other-on-the-back online world, but also people who are observing from afar and we have no idea about. I love it.

So I hope you don't mind you are famous on the internet now Nanny :)

Put a Bird On It!

This video cracks me up. Aren't we this ridiculous sometimes in the crafting world? You could really replace bird with deer, owl, unnecessary ruffle, whatever the next trend is...Of course I'm guilty of it too. (Stick a doily on it! Stick a mustache on it! Make an obvious tutorial about it!)

What good are we if we can't pull the that mod-podged stick out of our butts and laugh at ourselves?

Goings ons lately...-s

I probably won't have too many crafty things to share with you this week, because I am working on a few bigger projects right now. I'm planning another birthday party that is quickly approaching, (no, not H's 2nd birthday- how ridiculous would I be if that was what I was talking about?! Haha.) helping my friend get a bridal show display ready, and another fairly exciting project that you should be hearing about soon.

So today I'll leave you with the most fun kid's room I've seen in while. Again, maybe I'm just attracted all things circus right now, but come on, how cool is this room? I'm 27 and I'd live in this room right now.

See more of the room at Poppytalk.

Life Lists and Small Doses of Creativity

Yesterday I had about 30 minutes to myself in the afternoon when I got all three of the kids I was watching to sleep at once. Instead of turning on HGTV, I found some tiny post-its* and starting making lots of little lists. It was a very good thing. I'm not usually much of a list-maker, nothing outside of the occasional daily to-do list. But these lists were much different.

A list of my list topics: 3 things that inspire me, short-term goals, next skills I want to learn, new sewing skills to tackle, ways to focus on other people more than myself, upcoming gifts I need to make and give,  foods to eat more of now that it's summer, small things making me happy right now, things to do to be a better wife, and things to teach Hendrix now that he's one.

I came home and stuck them in my blank-paged moleskine. EVERYONE should own one of these. I have one and use it for everything- writing, lists, doodling, prayers, whatever. Nick has about 6-7, all for different purposes. (You can even buy some gussied-up ones here.)

What got me started with the listing was my friend Liv's current blog adventure, Project 10 for Creativity.

Each day, she gives a small, ten-minute task to get your creative juices flowing. I think today is day 5, but it's definitely not too late to start. 

Let me tell you why I think what she is doing is so brilliant. EVERYONE is creative. It's how we are made. I always have people tell me they just aren't creative at all, and that's why they couldn't make the stuff I make. But it isn't true. Of course, not everyone is creative in the way that they should sew or paint pictures or take pictures or whatever. But everyone is creative in some way every day. Moms create loving homes and fun days for their kids, nurses create comforting care unique to what each patient needs, lawyers create arguments and cases based on truth and unique interpretations of the law... it goes on. Even if you do nothing but sit on your couch all day, I'm sure you've invented a unique sandwich from ingredients that happened to be in your fridge. 

Day three of the project was to list the three things that inspire you most creatively. If you do nothing else in the project, this one is worth thinking about. Here is mine:

This little boy.

The possibility of new fabric. (These came in the mail yesterday-yay!)

And the city.

Go check it all out here.

**(Tera if you are reading this, I owe you 9-10 post-it notes.)